The Island, Croydon

St. Mary's Roman Catholic High School is a co-educational, 11-19 secondary school in Croydon, England. The school is one of the longest established schools in Croydon, having been founded over 140 years ago. It has expanded over the years and now caters for about 750 boys and girls, the majority of whom are Catholic but the school is attended by pupils of other faiths. The head teacher is Patrick Shields. It is the 9th most improved school in the country for GCSE exam passes and the percentages are increasing every year. It is placed as the top third school for progress after last years' results which were the best in school's history with 55% of the pupils achieving 5 A*-C in English and Maths compared to only 41% in 2015. 20% of the students achieved A*-A and 40% of students achieving A*-B grades. The school's progress 8 score is 0.45. The school's Attainment 8 score is 47.7. The percentage of students who achieved the EBACC was 20%. The school is the top Catholic state school for pupil's progress in Croydon. The school has moved from a mid range satisfactory rating to a good rating with the Local Education Authorities. This is based on the Ofsted's last inspection that took place between the 1st and 3 February. The school consistently performs well in science, allowing students to develop and clearly understand basic and advanced theoretical ideas. The school was also recently awarded the "Secondary School of 2016" by Croydon Council - the first time the school has won one. The Computing and Mathematics Specialism's has enabled the school to develop its computer suites and now has one of the highest pupils to computer ratios. The recent implementation of web accessed MLE is further indication of the progressive and modern attitude within the school. The school has succeeded in implementing a refurbishment program for the design and technology block to allow a new computer suite for Art, a revised and improved working area for Design and Technology and completely modernised classrooms for RE. The school had a sixth form up until 2015 however due to operational reasons the sixth form is temporarily suspended for the years to come.

St Mary's Church or Our Lady of Reparation Church is a Catholic Parish church in Croydon. It was built from 1863 to 1864 and designed by E. W. Pugin and Frederick Walters. It is architecturally in the Gothic Revival style. It is situated to the north of the centre of Croydon on the junction of Wellesley Road and Station Road, next to St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Croydon, but its parish extends to the west of the town.

Saffron Square (formerly known as Wellesley Square) is a town square and high-rise building in Croydon, United Kingdom. The purple and red Saffron Tower is currently the second-tallest building in Croydon. Saffron Square is part of the Croydon Vision 2020 regeneration plan for the London Borough of Croydon to add to its goal of being London's Third City. The area was developed by Berkeley Homes. Planning permission for the tower was given in April 2008, and construction began in 2011, with completion in 2016.

Lunar House is a 20-storey office block in Croydon, in South London. It is situated at 40 Wellesley Road, on its east side, and houses the headquarters of UK Visas and Immigration, a division of the Home Office in the United Kingdom.

Apollo House is a 22-storey high-rise office building at 36 Wellesley Road in the London Borough of Croydon, London, England. In common with a neighbouring building Lunar House and others developed by Harry Hyams, the building's name was inspired by the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. Like Lunar House, Apollo serves as the headquarters of UK Visas and Immigration, a division of the Home Office in the United Kingdom. The buildings at one time hosted the headquarters of the Property Services Agency (PSA), along with other 1960s office blocks, including those forming part of the Whitgift Centre. The PSA also had offices in central London, and a regional network of offices throughout the UK. Up until 2008, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Services section were based on floors 17 and 18. Now, the Home Office possesses this area. Not to be confused with the fictional 'Apollo House' from Peep Show (British TV series), the building used is Zodiac Court located on London Road in West Croydon.

West Croydon is a combined railway, bus station and tram stop in Croydon, south London. It is served by National Rail, London Overground, Tramlink and London Buses services and is in Travelcard Zone 5. The East London line, part of London Overground, was extended to the station in 2010. On the National Rail network it is 10 miles 35 chains (10.44 miles, 16.80 km) measured from London Bridge.

Harris Invictus Academy Croydon is an 11–18 mixed, free secondary school and sixth form in Croydon, Greater London, England. It was established in September 2014 and is part of the Harris Federation.

Wellesley Road tram stop is a halt on the Tramlink service in the London Borough of Croydon. It consists of a single platform on Wellesley Road at the diverge just before the Croydon Underpass and is served southbound only. All Tramlink routes call at the stop.

The Whitgift Centre is a large shopping centre in the town centre of Croydon, opening in stages between 1968 and 1970. The centre comprises 1,302,444 sq ft (121,001 m2) of retail space, and was the largest covered shopping development in Greater London until the opening of Westfield London at White City in 2008. The Whitgift Centre has a monthly footfall of 2.08 million. The complex includes an office development. The shopping centre has been synonymous with Croydon since its opening. In 2013, Hammerson and the Westfield Group formed a joint venture to redevelop the shopping mall and combine it with neighbouring Centrale. After years of delays, work was expected to begin in 2020, although the future of the project was under review in February 2019 citing concerns over Brexit and structural changes on the high street.

The Heart of Gaming is an amusement arcade in London. The arcade's most recent venue opened in 2019 on North End, Croydon. The Heart of Gaming features a different pricing system to most traditional video game arcades: customers pay a flat entry fee enabling them to play on all the machines in the venue until it closes (unlike the classic coin-operated system where entry is free but customers must insert coins into each machine in order to play it.)

North End is a pedestrianised road in Central Croydon, which includes entrances to the town's two main shopping centres, Centrale and the Whitgift Centre. The road has high street chains including Next, Zara, French Connection, and a large branch of department store House of Fraser. A large Debenhams store on the west side of the road did not reopen after the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown as the company entered administration. North End was closed off to all forms of motor traffic in 1989, to entice shoppers to choose Croydon over its main south-east London rival Bromley. On 26 November 2013, the Croydon Council approved a redevelopment of the town centre by The Croydon Partnership, a joint venture by The Westfield Corporation and Hammerson which would see the Whitgift Centre replaced with a Westfield shopping centre. London Mayor Boris Johnson approved the plan the following day. The Croydon Advertiser listed the approval as an "historic night for Croydon".North End was the home of Allders department store, opened in 1862, which later became the flagship store of a chain extending across England and Wales. The company went into administration in 2005, and the Croydon store, the last to survive, closed in 2012. At the time of its closure it was the third-largest department store in Britain.

The Croydon Co-operative Society was a cooperative retailer in Croydon and surrounding parts of Surrey, England. In 1918, it became part of the new South Suburban Co-operative Society, now the Co-operative Group. A co-operative society had been formed in Croydon in 1860, the Croydon Co-operative Industrial Society, with headquarters in Market Street and later at 39 Church Street. However, after several years of good progress, the Society went into voluntary liquidation in March 1874. A new society was formed in 1887, established at 85 Chesham Road, South Croydon. It first traded at 118 Church Street, then in 1888 moved to 128-130 Church Street and taking over neighbouring 132 in 1897. It was beset by inefficiency and poor practice, and competition from the rival Co-operative Coal Society operating from 1895 to 1902, registered in Northbrook Road. It was able to overcome other competition issues by a series of mergers - the Caterham Co-operative Society in 1906, the Epsom Co-operative Society in 1916 and the Sutton Co-operative Society. In 1907, the Society moved its trading premises to 30 London Road and then in 1914 it began to develop 99 London Road, north of central Croydon, which would later become the headquarters of the South Suburban. Shops were opened in South Norwood and Thornton Heath, and a bakery and stables in Windmill Hill, as well as the shops of the merged societies. In 1917, just prior to merger, it had 7,595 members and 175 employees. Key figures in the Croydon Society included Charles Bailey and Albert Gore. Bailey, an engineer, served as President from 1903, taking the society through the merger into the South Suburban and becoming President of the new society until 1938 – 35 years in office in total. Gore served on the board of Croydon and South Suburban for most of the period from the 1890s until 1945, and was a councillor in the town also.